Arsenal: Alan Smith hits on hope for future

Alan Smith has noted that the Arsenal players look happy under Unai Emery. This indeed a key reason for hope for the future. The Gunners can improve because the players believe in Emery’s work.

They say that winning breeds winning. When you think about it, it’s easy to see why. The confidence that comes from winning allows you to play better. The happiness and togetherness of a team improve. There is a more positive atmosphere around the club. All of this aids the performances of the players, which makes the team more likely to win, and thereby play better in the future. And so the cycle goes.

Catch the latest episode of the Pain in the Arsenal podcast right here

Arsenal are winning. They may not be playing very well, but they are winning games. They now have eight in succession in all competitions and have a favourable run through to November to extend that run into double figures.

More from Pain in the Arsenal

And that has generated an extremely positive feel around the club, even if the performances are not so encouraging. Alan Smith, in his column for the London Evening Standard, recognised that this team looks happier than it has in seasons past, suggesting that Unai Emery has endeared himself to the players and that they are buying into his work:

"“When Mesut Ozil scored the second goal against Watford last weekend, I looked at the players and the genuine joy on their faces seemed to show a real togetherness <…> But this winning run they are on is going to engender confidence. It just looks like Emery has got something going there and the players are enjoying playing for him. It is so important for a new manager to get the players to buy into what you are trying to do, and Emery is doing that.”"

This winning does provide a hope for the future. I have spoken and written at length this week about my concern regarding the performances of the team. The underlying statistics are far from encouraging for the long-term prospects of this team playing the way they currently are.

But the fact that they are winning, the fact that the players seem extremely joyous in training, during matches, even those that are not getting as much game time as they might like, the fact that there is a very sunny feel around the club currently all make me believe that the performances, in time, will improve.

Adapting to the Emery era was never going to be a quick fix. It was always going to take time. There is a new system to learn. There are new players to embed, new tactics to understand and then execute. The Wengerian tendencies of the team and the individual players are deeply embedded and would need to be overridden.

But that this team is undertaking that process happily and positively for the future makes me believe that the awkwardness in their performances thus far can be ironed out, that the problems can be solved, and that the cohesiveness of the team will improve. There is a great deal of hope for the future.